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Approach

We help clients tackle complex challenges in the built environment by combining innovative thinking, collaborative problem solving and a passion for expanding the boundaries of the possible.

Who We Are

A video from our CEO, explaining our approach and how we redefine possible.

RWDI has added many dimensions over the years as we’ve evolved to mirror the scope and diversity of our clients’ changing needs. Every initiative we launch and every new direction we explore reflects a clear understanding of why we’re in business.

The diverse projects that clients bring to us all begin with the same fundamental question: Can this be done? Is it technically feasible… cost-effective… sustainable over the long term? Will it have a beneficial impact on the people who use it and the environment in which it is built? Is this project, or some unique element within it, even possible?

The answers tend to be complicated; there are always many moving parts to examine and interdependencies to analyze. And in the course of determining whether something is doable, we often discover an entirely new approach to how such things can be done.

Redefining possible.

What Makes Us Unique?

Our passion for the technical

Whether we’re helping to execute a design no one has attempted before… or ensuring people can live and work comfortably in a challenging environment… or meticulously completing the due diligence of regulatory compliance… we consistently demonstrate RWDI’s trademark obsession with detail. We fine-tune the data and get the nuances exactly right, and then we translate that technical rigor into concrete, sustainable value.

Our belief in true collaboration

Many firms will tell you they listen closely to your goals and concerns. And it may be true – when they’re first engaged. At RWDI, we maintain that vital dialogue throughout your project as we test, learn and refine our shared understanding. The result is a truly collaborative partnership in which we adapt and innovate together, sharing ideas and tracking the measures of progress with transparency, accountability and mutual trust.

Our entrepreneurial spirit

A firm committed to redefining possible has to be as nimble, responsive and creatively disruptive as a startup. We encourage all members of the RWDI team to embrace the ingenuity of our founders as we constantly rethink the criteria for success. And when we grow, it's not to get bigger, but to be better: we only invest in added capabilities that complement what we already do and open up new opportunities for excellence.

A Continuing Legacy

RWDI has evolved dramatically over the past four decades, but the essence of who we are remains the same.

The first assignment our firm took on was looking for ways to reduce snow drifting on farm lanes in southern Ontario. No one had ever studied this problem before. And thanks to our original research on wind effects, the government was able to introduce technical improvements that made it easier and safer for rural residents to get around in winter.

That early success helped establish the emerging discipline of wind engineering – and set the future course of our firm. As RWDI has diversified into other areas of engineering and environmental science, we’ve steadily earned a global reputation for excellence. But our core purpose is still anchored by what we learned on the farm roads around Guelph more than 40 years ago: by applying deep technical knowledge and innovative thinking, we can meet the toughest challenges with smart, sustainable strategies.

That insight defines what RWDI is all about. We take on each new project armed with proven expertise backed by the lessons of experience. We develop innovative tools and unexpected approaches to find the best solutions to our clients’ challenges. And we leave no reasonable avenue unexplored, no detail unexamined, as we push the boundaries of the possible.

A Responsible Company

RWDI is committed to upholding and strengthening all dimensions of sustainability—social, economic and environmental – in our work on behalf of clients and in our own operations. As consultants in environmental engineering, we promote best practices in our clients’ projects and throughout their areas of impact. And as we help to create hospitable and inclusive spaces where people live, work and interact, we’re keenly aware of our responsibility to foster social and economic well-being in surrounding communities.

RWDI has a clear statement of purpose in the area of corporate responsibility, as well as a detailed plan for putting our principles into action. In our collaborations with a wide range of stakeholders – including clients, business partners, community leaders, governments and public-sector agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations and advocacy groups – we establish shared goals and agreed principles of conduct in the realm of sustainability. And within our organization we have comprehensive polices in the areas of health and safety, accessibility, diversity and inclusion, and corporate governance – all reflective of our deeply held values.

This commitment to corporate responsibility is grounded in our culture. RWDI people volunteer in the community, contribute to social and environmental causes, and donate their time and resources to charitable organizations. We support them in these efforts as part of our overall commitment to helping our people develop to their full potential in every respect, professionally and personally – because we understand that building a responsible company begins with fostering the individual efforts and convictions of everyone within it.